A BIG Uh-oh coming up for the Obama campaign.

[kstewart33]

From the Time website, it turns out that Obama's campaign manager is a registered lobbyist for two pharmaceutical companies.

Link: http://thepage.time.com/

[ananda]

1. Peeuuwww

The stink gets worse.

I'll have to put a clothespin on my nose
to vote for Obama.

[liberalnurse]

17. I won't vote for him in the Primary

or the General Election. Maybe Edwards in the General if I have to...maybe is strong.

[surfermaw]

28. True Hillary spilled the beans last night

If Edwards goes down, which I don't think he will, I'm going Hillary after all we know, at least she id try to get health care, the republican party can't stand that, that is why all the republicans money and votes are going to Obama.

[Bitwit1234]

52. Oh Obama pulls a crooked piece of shit and you blame Hillary

you don't blame Obama for lobbying with the Health care and prescriptions companies, you blame Hillary.. What typical dumb reasoning. So when everything else crooked he has done comes out, when we find he is as deep into the corporations as he is, shall you blame Hillary for that also..WHAT A BUNCH OF BULLSHIT. These are the type of people who support Obama, they most love bush.

[kurth]

2. “That’s not so”

saith Saint Obama.

[Cameron27]

3. Well, he denied it to Clinton's face last night,

I'll await his campaign's spin.

[kurth]

8. But that will CHANGE

[surfermaw]

31. I DIDN'T HEAR Obama say any thing , I was watching

He was quiet

[Cameron27]

37. I thought he denied it at the

same time he falsely said that it was Clinton's people who made the statement about Obama debating himself. I'll have to look at it again.

[OneGrassRoot]

65. She was still talking, but he shook his head and said "that's not true."

I didn't know if it was true or not; I thought he would have come back to that last night. I read somewhere else that it is a co-chairman, not the chairman. I haven't read the link yet...sorry if this is a stupid interjection.

I'm an Edwards supporter, though not an Obama or Hillary basher. This is one of those things that could be magnified, and wasn't the best decision, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker, IMHO.

[Joe the Revelator]

4. Old News. This has been brought up already.

[Gman]

26. The New News is that he denied it knowing

full well it was true. That's the big uh-oh.

[Forkboy]

5. It's not going to be big anywhere but with politcal junkies like us.

Not saying I like it, mind you. But I don't see it being a "big uh oh". :shrug:

[Gman]

27. Bald-faced lying is big everywhere

what else is out there that we don't know about and that Obama has lied about?

[sendero]

63. Exactly..

... as an Edwards man I can say with confidence that this kind of crap goes well below the Average American's radar.

If is THAT was anything new or unexpected.

[loveangelc]

64. exactly. I don't think some blurb in a Time magazine blog will be his big "UH OH."

[LWolf]

6. And this is supposed to be a surprise?

No surprise here, anyway. It will be interesting to see this one rationalized away.

:popcorn:

[Colobo]

7. It's over! It's over!

LOL!

[Yael]

9. Clinton called him on this. Interesting.

[Joe the Revelator]

10. Being registered to lobby does not make you a lobbyist

[Colobo]

12. Exactly.

[Donnachaidh]

38. what? Did he just do it for the title?

Geez -- talk about naive. Uh yeah, I'm registering as one *because I can*. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Hey -- I have this bridge I want to sell.... :eyes: :sarcasm:

[kstewart33]

59. Ooooooo, that's pretty weak. nt

[PurityOfEssence]

61. Saying you would have voted against something doesn't mean you would, either...

The practices of the hospital for which his wife is a very highly paid administrator should be an issue, as should the amount of money he's gotten from the medical establishment. It's hard to be a solution when one is part of the system to be overhauled.

As for this guy not being pro-medibiz just because he's registered to be their financial gumbah, that's silliness itself. I'll be he inhaled. Just a hunch.

[lostnotforgotten]

11. Portent Of Things To Come! If He Will Hire Lobbyists Now

He will do the same when in the White House!

[Renew Deal]

13. I don't think there's going to be any real effect in NH

I don't think this is something that people care about in NH (or many other places). It's too wonky. Also, he won't be the NH campaign chair in 2 days.

[Skinner]

14. It's not his campaign manager.

It's his New Hampshire co-chair. Big difference.

[Joe the Revelator]

16. According to Hillary, New Hamshire co-chairs are barely party of the campaign

and nothing that the candidate has any control over.

[catnhatnh]

24. Is that the same Hilliary Clinton....

...that was forced to dump her NH chair last month???

[skipos]

19. Thanks for the facts. I like Edwards and Obama, could deal with Hillary, but the SLIME coming from

Edwards Inc and Clinton Inc is getting really tiresome.

[Andy823]

34. Is it slime

To point out something like this now, instead of waiting till the general when the republicans will birng it up? The one thing that bothers me the most about Obama, are these kind of things. You can be sure that there will be a lot more brought out if he runs in the general. And no matter who wins the dem nomination, the republicans will attack far worse than something like this!

If it was a lie, then he should have addressed it more than to just say, that's not true, which he did. It is't true, no matter what position the guy holds, he should have kept admitted it and explained it.

[skipos]

50. When it is presented minus many facts, yes, it is slime.

When someone says don't vote for Edwards because "Edwards did no pro bono work" or "has a 25,000 foot house" or "got a $400 haircut" it is slime.
Now that Obama is the man to beat, it is sad to see so many Edwards & Clinton supporters distorting the truth to try to take Obama down.
Please note that I know there are many legitimate reasons to vote for someone other than Edwards, Obama, Clinton, Kucinich, Richardson and Gravel.

[City Lights]

43. Thanks Skinner!

I doubt you'll even slow them down though. :rofl:

[Rosa Luxemburg]

62. yes

[BeyondGeography]

15. Campaign co-chairs are like bank vice presidents

a dime a dozen. The OP would have us believe David Axelrod is a drug lobbyist.

Almost a nice try.

[maddiejoan]

49. When this same point was brought up about

Shaheen --you and other Obama supporters fell over yourselves to mention how important a role he played in Hillary's campaign.

[BeyondGeography]

56. Uh-huh, and what has this guy done to compare with that?

[maddiejoan]

57. well he's done nothing

Obama on the other hand has lied about not having lobbyists work for him.

[DrFunkenstein]

18. As Opposed to a State Chairman Who Suggests He's a Drug Dealer

n/t

[shoopnyc]

20. Tom Hartman talked about this...

...some pretty disturbing stuff. But, I'm not surprised.

[Jane Austin]

58. Thom Hartmann also dismissed the huge donation to a pro-Edwards

527 group from Bunny Mellon.

In speaking about her big donation of $495,000 to the 527 group that was running pro-Edwards radio ads in Iowa, he read this from the New York Times:

The name of the donating entity is Oak Spring Farms, which lists its address as Central Park South in New York. The entity is a partnership between Rachel L. Mellon, the 96-year-old widow of Paul Mellon, and her lawyer, Alexander D. Forger. Oak Spring Farms had previously given $250,000 to Mr. Edwards’s One America committee, a 527 committee he set up to fight poverty.

"So this is an anti-poverty group; and, and, anti-poverty activists who are supporting Edwards," Hartmann said.

I can't find much on Oak Spring Farms, LLC, in my quick search except this from the conservative New York Sun of Sept. 15, 2006, in a report on the gift to Edwards's PAC.

http://www.nysun.com/article/39763

The firm's "occupation" was described as "investments/savings." No other details about the company were made public.

In looking at info for the One America PAC, this is listed first in the list of initiatives for the PAC:

Raising the States, "a grassroots campaign that supports Democrats around the country who are running for state legislature."

All of the above is not to take issue with either Ms. Mellon's goals or those of John Edwards, whose PAC goals are admirable.

It is to suggest that Thom Hartmann misled his listeners when he dismissed this huge donation from a single individual as being from an anti-poverty activist and ignoring the fact that the it went to fund political ads, not anti-poverty initiatives.

As someone who has previously hung on Thom Hartmann's every word, I am more than disappointed in him.

I depended on him to expose this type of campaign shenanigan, not to gloss over it by suggesting that since the donors are okay people, then this 527 donation is just fine.

[alcibiades_mystery]

21. Desperation...move me brightly

Funny how the anti-Obama crew keeps mistaking a state campaign co-chair for the national campaign chair. One would almost think that they were a bunch of lying assholes.

[Cameron27]

25. That was the OP's mistake

not Clinton's and I'll take a hit for not reading it thoroughly, but a bunch of lying assholes? No Obama was the one who lied last night.

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. Sure...mistake

When everyone makes the same mistake despite considerable effort to correct them, it sure starts to look like more than a mistake.

Besides, I never said that Clinton made that mistake, so you may want to address that point to somebody who said such a thing.

[Cameron27]

39. Well that's just universal DU supporter behavior.

[alcibiades_mystery]

53. True

I'm not even an exclusive Obama supporter. I like all the major Dem candidates. And I have called out dishonesty in attacks on Clinton as well.

I just dislike specious attacks.

:-)

[Joe the Revelator]

22. HA!

[Gman]

23. I didn't read far enough down the latest list before I posted

I posted above that nobody is as clean as Obama seems to be. This is a real big uh-oh. How are Obama's anti-corporation people going to spin this? It's OK because it's Obama and he would never...blah, blah, blah...

[Andy823]

30. Yep

The problem is, and I heard him say so last night, it "wasn't" true. That's the real problem.

[cali]

29. I suggest you change your post. You don't want to perpetrate a LIE

I'm sure. You've been corrected; it's his NH co-chair. Not even remotely the same thing as his campaign manager. Leave your post as is, and it will say a lot- about YOU.

[bvar22]

46. Does anyone have a transcript yet?

I watched the debate, and in my memory, it was Hillary who said that Obama's "Campaign Manager" was a lobbyist for the Pharm Industry.

Transcript?

[spooky3]

32. the evidence looks pretty weak

He's also registered for quite a few other companies. What pay has he taken for any of them lately to lobby at the federal level?

By the way, Halperin is a snake. Search for his name at mediamatters.org.

I wouldn't put any stock in what he says without additional evidence or confirmation.

[gulliver]

33. The YouTube link shows Hillary with the NH debate's best moment.

There is no other moment by any participant that holds a candle to it. She nails Obama on his voting record, accuses him of having a lobbyist as a state chair (Obama denies it although it is true, yikes), and also addresses the pretty words vs. actions issue. Hillary's performance in that clip was head-and-shoulders above anything else that happened in that debate. It is that kind of moment I want to see brought against the Republican nominee.

[H2O Man]

36. Now that the

error in your reporting has been pointed out, will you have the decency to edit your post?

[gulliver]

44. Agreed. The OP should edit the post.

It was not the "campaign manager." However, the mistake is by the OP, not Hillary. Hillary clearly called Obama out, and Obama clearly denied something that was true on national TV. It would not be right to let this post sink with the impression that this was not the case.

[gulliver]

40. "We're electing a president. We're not electing a class orator."

The other YouTube link has Hillary saying that. This talk vs. action stuff is good. It deserves to score.

[BenDavid]

41. Do ya really think the mediawhores will look into this? I doubt

it serious because they have the notion if they go after obama like they have hrc they have folks calling em racist. What? Is obama's off limits? So, the mediawhores are going to do to obama what they did for bush in 2000. DO NOTHING!

[Windy]

42. I believe it was Hillary who said in early debates that lobbyists are our friends

She better be careful when throwing rocks at glass houses....

[mrreowwr_kittty]

45. You do realize there's a difference between an employee and a donor, don't you? nt

[CyberPieHole]

47. Obama will just "change" his response...

perhaps he should have just said "present"?:evilgrin:

:kick: and recommend

[Evergreen Emerald]

48. Edwards also has lobbyists supporting him

they are not washington lobbyists. I guess as long as they don't work on the beltway--lobbyists are ok.

[Bitwit1234]

51. This has been posted before and the Obama spewers went

bat shit crazy....no wonder he doesn't like Hillary's health plan she posted last summer in New Mexico. No wonder he didn't have one ready then when even the second tier did. Boy if he is in the pocket of the health companies, wonder where else his priorities lie....THIS MAN IS FOR CHANGE...SURE AS HELL CHANGE IN HIS POCKET INSTEAD OF BUSH AND CHENEY...HA HA HA HA HA HA

What an honest and caring person he is...wonder what else will slip out. But don't expect the MSM to pounce on it, they have their orders from people live rove. Slam Hillary leave Obama alone we want him for a candidate.

[SoxFan]

54. Not the "campaign manager"

Demers is one of half a dozen co-chairs. Among the others is Mary Rauh, one of the most respected and outspoken advocates for campaign finance reform in the country.

Still, Obama's campaign should not have named Demers as a co-chair. I tried to explain this to them back in the early spring, but Obama's NH director, Matt Rodriguez, is a friend of Demers from the Gephardt campaign, and refused to listen.

[gulliver]

55. Please correct your post.

Please change "campaign manager" to "chair in New Hampshire". Otherwise, the essential point (that Obama denied something that was true) will be obscured by your mistake. It's a good post, and its gist is true. It just needs correction.

[Evergreen Emerald]

60. The media will not mention it...they are busy focusing on Clintons

co-co-chair who may have mentioned Obama's name. So what if Obama LIES about it...not biggy, his is an inspiration for change.

[Infinite Hope]

66. K&R n/t